Novel Coronavirus Covid-19 Outbreak Creates a Digital Turning Point: Cross-Border, E-Commerce is Becoming More and More Popular

7 May 2020

It’s not just people's lifestyles that have changed due to the impact of the novel coronavirus Covid-19 outbreak, out of crisis comes more opportunities to seek new commercial possibilities and ways of working. Suppliers and buyers have transferred to online platforms during this epidemic period, the performance of Amazon US and Alibaba in Mainland China bucks the current downward trend, while the popularity of cross-border, e-commerce platforms is increasing.

Of course, anti-epidemic and health care products are in huge demand, but in general people have reduced their frequency of purchasing, eating out and other activity outside, this change in habits has resulted in the current self-cooking trend and more commercial possibilities. The purchase of indoor fitness products has increased in popularity hugely because gym enthusiasts are now exercising at home. Additionally, home video products and home video game equipment are also in high demand. These changes in spending habits have resulted in an increase in the performance of the e-commerce industry, which is against the trend.

Foreign trade platform sales performances are also outstanding right now, especially in the related industries of anti-epidemic and food. The turnover of Taiwantrade in February was 24% higher than in January. TAITRA (Taiwan External Trade Development Council) has released a free shipping allowance for Taiwantrade's EP membership and started to assist manufacturers for customized e-commerce consulting services since March, the "Digital Trade Workshop" was launched on 17th March 2020 at the same time.

B2B e-commerce platforms have actively upgraded online performance in response to the epidemic in an attempt to win over many suppliers and buyers. To take Global Sources as an example, the Global Sources Online (GSOL) platform, which is awarded the most trusted in suppliers and buyers, breaks away from time and geography, allowing buyers and suppliers to trade online anytime, anywhere. The latest English and iPad version of GSOL has been released, which is simpler, subjects updated quarterly, columns renamed clearer, content and pages of advertisement reduced, the page and process of obtaining a quote simplified, and light-quantity procurement services recommended.

Buyers can see the prices directly from the page of Buy Product Samples Instantly 2.0, find out the details and tracking information, or scan the supplier's QR code at the site to survey the product details and then place an order anytime.

Global Sources provides the unique "Verified Supplier" status for a secure procurement. To ensure that suppliers are legal and entity business units, all suppliers' business licenses and business scope are verified by the third-party audit reports. Meanwhile, Global Sources co-operates with internationally well-known manufacturers to provide evaluation information of the supplier's production equipment, production capacity, product quality, and other capabilities for buyers to help suppliers and manufacturers to display professional and reliable corporate image to buyers for winning the trust quickly.

In response to the complex and changing environment, Global Sources also provides a series of supporting measures to overcome the difficulties of suppliers, encourage suppliers to communicate with overseas customers, fight against the epidemic to stabilize orders and win the time and space, meanwhile, encourage buyers to get the new product information of "Verified Supplier" and order samples through GSOL.